Feb. 9, 2006 CONTACT: Susan Straub
Harper Angel wants new health network
to include living wills, organ donations
FRANKFORT -- As Kentucky designs its electronic health network, Senator Denise Harper Angel, D-Louisville, has filed a bill to ensure that it includes immediate access to electronic registries for living wills and organ donors.
"The immediacy of the network will make it possible to place the kind of information that's often needed in emergencies -- living wills and organ donations -- only a key stroke away for emergency room doctors," Harper Angel said.
The legislature passed a bill to set up the health network last year. The bill called for the appointment of a board to design the network, with the involvement of the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville. That work began last summer.
Ultimately, the network is expected to improve patient care, reduce medical errors and cut health care costs by making it possible to speed comprehensive information on an individual patient or the latest research on a patient's condition to his physician.
"The network can improve the way we respond to emergencies and ensure that physicians have to opportunity to follow each citizen's individual choices," Harper Angel said.
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Note: For a high-res. JPEG photo file of Senator Harper Angel, please log on to www.lrc.state.ky.us/pubinfo/ephoto.htm.